Thoughts About Age

Why is it you can never ask a women her age?

This has seriously been something I've been thinking about for the last few years.  My Mom and I met someone during our first trip to the British Isles.  It was a tour, and our host merely hinted at her age, referencing some event, making it seem like she could've been around my Mom's age, but she wouldn't tell us directly how old she was.  We told our ages and shrugged it off, but respected her silence on the issue.

Mind, I don't ask people their age when first meeting them as many do consider it rude.  Still, we should wear our age as a badge of honor. 

Recently I tuned 38.  Yes, thirty-eight.  It's really weird writing that out!  Wow.  Perhaps this means I'm officially a late thirty something?  No longer able to claim mid-thirties?  0_0  At what point does that end?  But it is what it is.  This is my age.  This is how many years I've lived on Earth.  My full rotations around the sun.  That means something.  It means I have a taste of the nineteen-eighties with memories here and there.  That I remember a time before the internet and digital technology.  I was in college during 9-11.  Etc.  Granted, there are years I wasted.  So many things I could have done better.  But there are also successes.  Triumphant moments.  Trials I've conquered.  These years are my life story.  These years make me who I am.  The good and the bad.

Shouldn't we be proud of our age?  Shouldn't we be proud of the stories we're able to tell?  The experiences we've lived through?  What we've witnessed?  What we've overcome? 

Maybe it's because I've always been fascinated by the stories of those who've come before, namely my family.  Asking my Grandparents the different ways they experienced the great-depression.  Hearing my Dad talk about the moon landing.  Some stories are humbling and some stories are fun.

Yes, I'm overwhelmed by regret, but I'm also hopeful for the future.  Regardless of everything happening right now, I'm leaning on hope.  I'm determined not to lose it.

We all have stories to tell.  And we all have stories yet to create.